Reviewing Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) & AerSale (NASDAQ:ASLE)

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) and AerSale (NASDAQ:ASLE) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.2% of Woodward shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.5% of AerSale shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Woodward shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.2% of AerSale shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Woodward and AerSale’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Woodward	12.89%	19.07%	10.23%
AerSale	1.73%	2.10%	1.40%

Risk & Volatility

Woodward has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, AerSale has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Woodward and AerSale, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Woodward	0	4	9	1	2.79
AerSale	1	3	0	0	1.75

Woodward currently has a consensus price target of $354.80, indicating a potential downside of 9.96%. AerSale has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.65%. Given AerSale’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AerSale is more favorable than Woodward.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Woodward and AerSale”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Woodward	$3.79 billion	6.20	$442.11 million	$7.94	49.63
AerSale	$345.07 million	1.04	$5.85 million	$0.13	58.31

Woodward has higher revenue and earnings than AerSale. Woodward is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AerSale, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Woodward beats AerSale on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc. designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft. These products are used on commercial and private aircraft and rotorcraft, as well as on military fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, guided weapons, and other defense systems. It also provides aftermarket maintenance, repair and overhaul, and other services to commercial airlines, repair facilities, military depots, third party repair shops, and other end users. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), tier-one suppliers, and contractors, as well as through aftermarket sales of components, such as provisioning spares and replacements. The Industrial segment offers actuators, valves, pumps, fuel injection systems, solenoids, ignition systems, speed controls, electronics and software, and sensors. These products are used on industrial gas turbines, steam turbines, compressors, and reciprocating engines. This segment sells its aftermarket products, and other related services to OEMs through an independent network of distributors, as well as directly to end users. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.

About AerSale

AerSale Corporation provides aftermarket commercial aircraft, engines, and its parts to passenger and cargo airlines, leasing companies, original equipment manufacturers, and government and defense contractors, as well as maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) service providers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Asset Management Solutions and Technical Operations (TechOps). The Asset Management Solutions segment engages in the sale and lease of aircraft, engines, and airframes, as well as disassembly of these assets for component parts. The TechOps segment provides internal and third-party aviation services, including internally developed engineered solutions, heavy aircraft maintenance and modification, and component MRO, as well as end-of-life disassembly services. This segment provides aircraft modifications, cargo and tanker conversions of aircraft, and aircraft storage; and MRO services for landing gear, thrust reversers, hydraulic systems, and other aircraft components. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.